Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Grief is the Thing with Feathers

It’s mesmerizing to read. The cadence is melodic in a sense and while the prose is confusing and dark, it represents grief in that way. It’s complicated and simple and a lot and not all at once. An interesting read to say the least.

Content Warnings

siobhanward's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I love crows, so the idea of a crow eating grief and being almost a grief counsellor was great for me. Porter's work is always beautiful and I love how the story unfolded in this. The three POVs (Dad, Boys, Crow) were so different in their approaches to the mother's death and way in which they were coming to terms with it. The writing was creative and clever. I do feel as though I may have missed something in the father's love for Ted Hughes - I've never read any of his work, so I feel as though I may have missed some references, but it did not impact my read through of the book.

Content Warnings

bocker_enligt_angelica's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

velokei's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

An exploration of grief that hurt my heart. I think there were some parts that went over my head a little, there’s probably a deeper meaning to crows rambles. I’d recommend looking up the names if you don’t recognise them, as knowing about Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath is important to the narrative. I liked that grief itself wasn’t an obstacle to get over, simply a long project that you never really finish.

Content Warnings